They project an illusion of control over something that two, three, even four or five years from now they really have no control over at all. Most people in the financial sector know better, but that doesn’t really matter. Even the WSJ article uses phrases like (emphasis mine), “…businesses see the Fed's assurances”. The words “assure” and “assurances” are thrown around quite a bit. There are just too many variables. If they had that much control – why couldn’t we avoid the current mess?

In the press conference Bernanke provides his requisite CYA, “Our ability to forecast three and four years out is obviously very limited. It's certainly possible that we will be either too optimistic or too pessimistic.” These are the kinds of statements that no one ever hears – instead they just judge your forecast as “right” or “wrong”.